Daily Archives: May 31, 2008

Sure, we’ve all heard the story of Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie offering a scholly to a ninth grader, but did you know that there’s an SEC football coach who’s done the same thing?

Raise your hand if you’re surprised.

… Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer said most coaches agree it doesn’t look ethical to recruit someone 14 or 15 years old, but he won’t shy away from it.

“It’s almost like everybody else is, so you have to,” Fulmer said. “That’s the world we live in. Ninth-grader is a stretch, but recruiting sophomores is real. That’s where we are.”

Fulmer said he once offered a scholarship to a ninth-grader, offensive lineman Jeff Smith, who became an All-SEC standout en route to a standout NFL career.

“I kidded Jeff that he came to our summer camp so many years that we owed him a scholarship,” Fulmer said. “When he was in the ninth grade, he was 6-3, 280 pounds. He could run, move his feet and was a good person. So I offered him…”

On the first play after stopping Florida on downs, Georgia handed the ball off to Knowshon for a small gain, at which point one of my friends sniffed, “that’s not what Spurrier would have done if we’d have turned the ball over there.”

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15